Commodore Ffoulkes stepped onto the bridge and smoothly slid into his acceleration couch without ceremony. "What do we have, Commander?" he asked his executive officer.
Commander Ratana Vipavakit was sweating. "We have confirmation on eight simultaneous transits at six light-minutes."
Ffoulkes paled. "We can't fight that," he whispered. Louder, he said, "Do we have confirmation on the ship types?"
"Yes, sir. Three Nurgg dreadnoughts of the Apocalypse class; two Nurgg carriers, unknown type, possibly Fearless class; three scout vessels, Nautilus class. Shall we engage, sir?"
Fleet Command issued designations to Nurgg vessels that were classed roughly by size and capability. No one knew what designations the Nurgg themselves used.
"You realize, XO, that just one of those dreadnoughts could defeat this whole taskforce."
"Yes, sir," she replied. "Your orders?"
The Apocalypse-class dreadnought was the largest mobile spacefaring vessel that had ever been encountered by humankind or any of its allies. It was a six-kilometer starship bristling with weapons. One had never been defeated at that stage of the war. There had never been more than one of them seen in any system up until then. Three of them represented an unheard of build-up of Nurgg forces in the system.
"Nurgg vessels will be in weapons range of the taskforce in eight minutes," reported Chief Petty Officer Georges tensely from the weapons station.
"Your orders, sir?" Vipavakit asked again.
"Communications, order all ships to fall back immediately at full emergency speed. Order the Sleipnir to launch fighters to form a defensive screen for the taskforce. I want the Childress on station to provide point defense."
"Sir, the Loridell requests that we hold station while she ferries up her science personnel from the surface."
"How many do they have?" he asked.
"Over eighty scientists and marine personnel are on the surface, sir. They say they will need thirty minutes to retrieve them all."
"Order the Loridell to fall back now."
"Sir?" said Vipavakit.
"You heard me, Commander. We can't risk the lives of the twenty-one thousand people on these ships for a handful of scientists and personnel on the planet. If we fall back now, the Nurgg may not attack the planet. They have ignored planets before if no offensive action was taken. Make it so."
"Yes, sir."
"Order Halifax, Resolute, Takanami, and Xenophon to screen the Loridell and escort her out of the system. Tell Jianghu to follow us. Helm," he said, taking a deep breath, "bring us around. I want our weapons brought to bear in case they get too close."
"Acknowledged, sir."
"Captain? Are we going to intervene?" Boyle asked.
"You're joking, right?" Captain Viknorov said. "We can't take on that kind of armada. The Nurgg would tear us apart."
They could all see the Nurgg ships on an intercept course with the Federation taskforce. They all knew what the outcome would be if the Federation ships decided to stand and fight.
"Missile launch, Captain," Chief Flynn said quietly. "Damn, look at that!"
A massive wave of missiles swept toward the Federation ships.
"Helm, move us behind the planet and then head out to safe jump range. Keep the planet between us and the Nurgg. Let's not let them know we're here."
"Acknowledged, Captain."
"You think the Nurgg are here because of that structure we found?" Boyle asked.
"How should I know, XO? In any case, this isn't our fight."
"We could learn a lot from that structure, Captain."
"You think we should fight?"
"Not now, but I don't think we should let them have it so easily."
"I'm sure Command will agree, but we're going to need support to take this system from those ships. Navigation, plot a hyperspace course back to base."
Commodore Ffoulkes breathed a sigh of relief as his fighters destroyed another wave of Nurgg missiles. The Agamemnon had taken three missile hits in the last wave before the fighters of the Sleipnir could re-arm and launch again. The Childress had been destroyed by the wave of missiles just before that, all sixteen hundred of her crew lost.
"Hyperlimit in two minutes, sir," Commander Vipavakit said.
"Order the fighters to return home, Commander."
"Sir."
"The Loridell and her escorts just transited, sir."
"Very good," he said calmly. "Hold steady until the Sleipnir can retrieve her fighters."
"Acknowledged, sir."
"Missile launch! ETA two-point-five minutes."
"It's going to be close, sir," Vipavakit said.
"I know, Commander," Ffoulkes replied. "Order all ships to transit as soon as their fighters are aboard and they cross the hyperlimit."
"Yes, sir."
He watched tensely as a ten thousand missiles streaked in on his position.
"The Sleipnir is away, sir. Hyperlimit in six seconds."
Ffoulkes took one last look at the system displays. "Take us to safety, helm."
"Yes, sir."
The Agamemnon transited to hyperspace at thirty percent of the speed of light. The Nurgg missiles, seconds later, swept through the space the ship had just occupied. Some of the missiles were destroyed in the gravitic turbulence around the translation point; most of them continued into deep space.
Most of the Nurgg vessels turned their attention to the outer gas giant they had designated as the location of their orbital base of operations. They did a cursory sweep of the other planets in the system, but nothing caught their attention.
Chapter Twenty-Five
"Sir!" Lieutenant Amelia Christopher ran toward Tebrey, waving.
"You could have used the com, Lieutenant," he said mildly as she ran up, out of breath.
"Sir, the Loridell is breaking orbit!"
Tebrey had been standing and talking to Dr. Mason, who paled at the lieutenant's words.
"Is it the...?" Mason trailed off.
Christopher nodded. "Yes, ma'am, the Nurgg, eight ships."
Tebrey flinched. "That's a lot of Nurgg ships, Lieutenant. Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir."
He thought for a moment, then said, "Okay, I want you to immediately ground and power down any shuttles we have, same with the skimmers. All generators need to be taken offline. We need to get under cover and pretend not to exist. If the Nurgg scan the planet and discover power sources, they will attack."
"Yes, sir." She raised her com and began sending orders to the other marines and pilots on the planet.
"Will the commodore fight?" Mason said quietly.
"No, not if he's smart. He'll know that fighting will be useless. We're expendable."
"How can you say that?" she asked.
"Simple mathematics, Doctor," Tebrey replied. "There are a lot more people up there than down here. We're just going to have to go quiet and hope the Nurgg don't invade."
"Then what?"
"Then we wait to be rescued."
"Do you really believe that they'll come back for us?"
"I do. I really do, Mason. Fleet doesn't leave its people behind. Someday they will be back to look for us. It's our job now to stay alive until they come back."
"How can you stay so calm?"
"Would panicking improve the situation?"
"It's ridiculous!" Dr. Anderson stormed. "If the Loridell is leaving, we should be getting into the shuttles and heading up there. Not sitting here on the ground."
There were murmurs of agreement from the scientists and personnel gathered together to discuss what was happening.
"Well, since it has been about half an hour since the Loridell left orbit," Tebrey replied, "I'd say that getting into the shuttles would be a bit useless. The Loridell may even have jumped to hyperspace by now."
"If you hadn't ordered the shuttles powered down, we wouldn't be here!"
"No, you'd be just reaching orbit. The Loridell would still be long gone, and you'd be a tempti
ng target for the Nurgg armada moving through the system. At best, you'd be killed in orbit. At worst, you'd attract attention to the planet, and everyone here would die."
"You persist in this childish notion that the Nurgg are some sort of monsters!"
Hunter growled softly.
Tebrey took a deep breath and took a tight rein on his temper. "Doctor, I'm here because I'm one of the few people who have fought the Nurgg, on a Nurgg-occupied planet, and lived to tell about it."
"What planet would that be?" Anderson asked scathingly.
"Norlin," Tebrey replied. "A planet in our Protectorate, not much different from this one. It was a little more advanced technologically. Much to their sorrow, they had just recently rediscovered electricity, which attracted the Nurgg. The Nurgg attacked the planet and destroyed the major cities from orbit. They then landed and forced the locals into labor camps where they worked them to death. I was there, Doctor! I went in via orbital insertion capsule six months into the occupation."
He could see that he had captured the attention of the scientists. Everyone was quietly listening to him, even Anderson.
"Two of our Frontier worlds had been overrun. Sergeant McGee can tell you about that. At that point in the war, no one knew what happened on the planets the Nurgg overran. I was dropped in to determine if an organized resistance could be formed on the ground. I found a culture in shock. They had forgotten that their ancestors had come from another planet. Can you imagine what it must have been like for them to be suddenly invaded by aliens? You can't. Their armies had been defeated in a single hour of fighting. After that, they had gone meekly to the camps to await their deaths."
"But –" Anderson attempted to interrupt.
"No, Doctor. Listen to me. You weren't there. You didn't see the death camps. You didn't see the naked, starving children crawling in the mud. The empty-eyed people who reached the limits of endurance and collapsed, only to be dragged away to the incinerators by the Nurgg. The screams of the ones who were thrown in still alive, but unable to resist. I lived it!"
"You were captured and put into the death camps," Anderson whispered. Tebrey could sense that he was finally starting to understand.
"My orders were to do whatever it took. I allowed myself to be captured so I could see what they were doing with the people. It was... difficult."
"What happened to them, Commander?" Mason asked. "In the end, I mean."
Tebrey raised his intense green eyes and smiled fiercely. No one seeing that smile would have seen humor there. "I taught them how to fight back." His eyes seemed focused on battles long past. "Millions died in the reprisals, but they never stopped fighting. Not once they knew they could. They did so much damage to the Nurgg factories that it hampered their war effort across the entire sector. Eventually the Nurgg were driven from the system by the Fleet. Marines landed and secured the planet, killing off the rest of the Nurgg. They found me. They brought aid to the remaining population. The last I heard, Norlin was being considered for inclusion as a Frontier world."
"I had no idea," Anderson said. "I thought the stories were just propaganda."
Tebrey saw that his story was getting through to the others. It was obvious to him, even without using his abilities, that Anderson thought it just a load of so much military crap, but Tebrey was sure the scientist would play along for now. Anderson thought the Nurgg weren't a threat, and that the others would turn on Tebrey. Anderson thought that after that, he would finally be able to get some real work done.
"No, Doctor. The Nurgg are xenophobic and psychotic. They won't rest until every other form of life is destroyed. They may or may not attack this planet. Powering down the shuttles has given us some breathing room, but don't expect things to be easy. Fleet sent me here because I'm an expert on the Nurgg. Listen to what I have to say, and we will live through this."
"We're listening, Commander." A chorus of agreement came from the other people present. Tebrey didn't believe for a second that he had changed Anderson's mind, but he hoped that he really had gotten through to everyone else. One wrong move now could get them all killed.
"We need to take an inventory of available supplies; we're going to need food and medical supplies if we're here long. We'll also need shelter."
As people moved off, relieved to have something to do, Tebrey placed his hand on Anderson's shoulder. "Doctor, I'm going to need your help."
"I'll do anything I can, Commander. What did you need?"
"I'm military. Most of these people aren't. I'm good in a crisis, but it takes something else to lead people. You have that. You are the civilian authority among our people here on Cedeforthy. I can keep the military personnel in line, but I need you to lead everyone else."
"Surely you're more qualified," Anderson began, his sarcasm barely detectable even to Tebrey.
"I wouldn't say so. I've never held command. You're the one these people have looked to for guidance. You led the expedition here."
"I've made some bad judgment calls. We should have pulled out when you said so."
Tebrey shrugged. "Maybe; maybe not. Your work here is very important. Maybe more important than any of us know. But we are here now. Now, we need to do what we have to, to survive. One thing that we need to survive is a strong leader. I believe in you."
"Thank you for that." He paused. "I don't know what to say. I'll do what I can. You'll advise me, I hope?"
"Of course."
"Thank you. May I ask you a question, Commander?"
Tebrey nodded.
"How long were you on Norlin before you were rescued?"
"Two years," said Tebrey.
"It's going to get cold tonight, Commander. We're moving into the winter season here in the south," said Lieutenant Christopher.
"So I've been told. Do you have any suggestions for what to do about it?" asked Tebrey. He, Hunter, and the lieutenant were walking the perimeter of the site.
"I had thought that we could put some of them in the shuttles."
"But not everyone," he replied.
"No, sir. Only about half of the scientists and other personnel will fit."
"Okay, we'll have the older scientists sleep in the shuttles; that's about half of them anyway, I think. I also want at least two marines on each of the shuttles. Tell them to lock themselves into the control cabins. I don't want anyone thinking they can take off in one."
"Yes, sir."
"Do you have any idea how cold it may get?"
"Tonight? Probably not much below zero. It will be much worse in the middle of winter."
"Right," Tebrey said, and then thought for a moment. "Send a couple of marines out with the graduate students to collect dead wood. We're going to need fires tonight to keep warm."
"Yes, sir."
"How's the food situation?"
"Well, it could be worse," Christopher said with a shrug. "We were ferrying food regularly down from the Loridell. If we cut consumption in half, we have enough to last six days."
"That's not nearly enough."
"No, sir." She looked grim.
"We need to ask around and see if anyone knows anything about hunting."
Lieutenant Christopher swallowed uncomfortably. "Hunting?" she asked.
"Yes. Tracking down and killing things to eat is easy. Preparing them as food is a little more difficult, I'm sure."
"I think I'm going to be sick," she said. "I'm sorry, sir. That just sounds... revolting."
"It's called survival, Lieutenant. Meat will only get us so far. We'll need to supplement it with other edibles. Ask Dr. Bauval and Dr. Mason to meet with me in the map room in an hour. We're going to have to discuss some alternatives. Also," he said, "go ahead and cut back on our rations. Don't say anything to anyone, though. We'll need two marines on that detail as well."
"That's going to stretch us pretty thin."
"I know, but we don't have much choice right now."
"Yes, sir," she replied. "Is that all, sir?"
"For now. Go ge
t that started. Everyone will feel better with something to do."
"Yes, sir."
Tebrey stood and idly rubbed Hunter's ears. It was going to be a long, hard winter.
Chapter Twenty-Six
"You propose an interesting problem for me, Commander. I'll need to think about it before I can give you a comprehensive list," said Dr. Bauval. "For now, the strawberry tree fruit is edible if a little unpalatable. Walnuts will make an excellent meat substitute if we can collect enough of them. There are various fruits that may still be around. This isn't a good time of year for most of the edibles, I'm afraid."
"Neither of you seem all that disturbed by what I'm suggesting," Tebrey said.
Mason shrugged. "As an anthropologist, I usually have to try the local cuisine; part of my job. So I got over my squeamishness a long time ago. Pierre here is just a genetic throwback to our primitive ancestors."
"Hah! You'd like to think so, wouldn't you?" he said, laughing. "Seriously, I grew up on a Frontier world; we take such things as a natural part of life. Not like those soft inner-worlders."
"Well, I'm glad you're both in good spirits. It will help the others to see you laughing. I wanted to ask you something else, though, Mason," Tebrey said, dropping his voice.
"What's that?"
"Do you think that the local villagers would be willing to barter with us? I suspect that we're going to need more food than we can gather."
"I'm not sure. The locals had bad harvests these last two years. You saw what it was like in the village. I don't know if they're going to be all right through the winter, themselves. I don't think they would have any extra to trade, even if we had something they really wanted."
"We may not be able to afford giving them the option of saying no."
"Are you suggesting that we take their food from them?" Mason asked, incredulous.
"It may come to that. We're going to get very hungry, very soon."
"I couldn't condone that," she replied. "They're already facing starvation. You would be assuring their deaths."
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